Timeline (unofficial)
Important events in Warcraft history. For the full Story, see the official History of Azeroth or History of Warcraft. =Timeline= All year numbers are in relation to the time of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Spoiler Info Anything that is an important storytelling element from any of the games, books, or comics will be blanked out, requiring you to select the text with your mouse by clicking and dragging around the hidden text. This is done to protect people who have not yet played/read those items from reading something that could spoil their enjoyment of the game/book/comic. * Example: {test text} The Beginning * The Universe is created. Nobody knows exactly how. * The Titans appear, and begin shaping the new worlds of the universe as part of a master plan to create Order from Chaos. * The Titans are under constant threat from demonic forces in the Twisting Nether, who want to undo the work of the Titans and devour the energies of the living universe. * The Titans elect their greatest warrior Sargeras to eliminate the demonic threat. * Sargeras encounters the Eredar. Though he defeats them and traps them in a corner of the Twisting Nether, their evil nature causes Sargeras to slip into a deep depression. * Sargeras encounters the Nathrezim. Their corruption causes Sargeras to lose faith in his mission and the Titans' goal of bringing order to the universe, and he leaves the Pantheon. * Sargeras' madness causes him to turn against the Titans and he vows to undo all that they have created. * Sargeras frees the Eredar and Nathrezim. * Sargeras appoints two Eredar - Kil'jaeden the Deceiver and Archimonde the Defiler - to command his new demonic army, the Burning Legion. * Kil'jaeden enslaves the Nathrezim to be his behind-the-scenes corrupting agents throughout the universe. * Archimonde enlists the Pit Lords and their leader Mannoroth the Destroyer to be his elite destroyers. The Shaping of Azeroth * The Titans come across the barren world of Azeroth, and set out to reshape it to their specifications. * The Titans battle the evil Old Gods who reigned over Azeroth, and their Elemental Lieutenants. * One Old God is killed in Darkshore, three are imprisoned. The fifth, C'Thun, is defeated in the deserts of Silithus. Defeated, but not slain. * The Elemental Lieutenants are imprisoned in the Elemental Plane. * The Titans create the Troggs out of stone, but deem the project a failure and decide to try again. * The Titans create the Earthen and the Sea Giants to help shape Azeroth into a thriving world. * The Titans create the Well of Eternity, a fount of power and life from which plants and creatures soon began to appear. * The Silithid emerge from the Well of Eternity. The powerful insects attract the attention of the forgotten C'Thun. * Their work done, the Titans bestow some of their powers upon the leaders of the 5 major dragonflights, and charge them with protecting Azeroth. Those dragons would be known as the Aspects. * The Earthen, done with the duty they were created for, go into hibernation for many centuries. The First Civilizations * The Trolls establish themselves as the first civilized race on Azeroth, and craft the mighty Amani and Gurubashi empires. * The Earthen awaken, and become the first Dwarves. * The Tauren and Furbolgs appear for the first time, living in nomadic tribes in western Kalimdor. * The Old God C'Thun creates an insectoid-humanoid race in the image of the Silithid, called the Aqir. * The Aqir establish a third Empire to rival that of the Trolls', and proceed to conquer much of south-western Kalimdor. * The Amani and Gurubashi Empires reluctantly ally to battle the Aqir. They wage war for thousands of years, but the Aqir are ultimately defeated. * The Aqir Empire breaks apart, with some forming the northern city-state of Azjol-Nerub, the others forming the southern city-state of Ahn'Qiraj. * Primitive humanoids (supposedly a wayward tribe of Trolls) venture into central Kalimdor and discover the Well of Eternity. Infused with powerful magic, they become the first Night Elves. * The Night Elves battle with the Trolls. Magic gives the elves an advantage over the supersticious trolls, who refuse to wield the volatile power. * The Night Elves succeed where the Aqir failed: they shatter the mighty Troll Empires. * The Aqir in northern Kalimdor evolve into the spider-like Nerubians. The Aqir in the south evolve into the mysterious Qiraji. * The Night Elves form the Kaldorei Empire, the mightiest empire ever to have existed on Azeroth. * The Nerubians live a quiet existence, for fear of retribution from the Kaldorei. * The Qiraji, driven by the evil C'Thun, amass a massive army of Qiraji, Silithids and magical contructs, and overrun the southern province of Silithus. The War of the Shifting Sands begin. * The Night Elves, led by Fandral Staghelm, put up a valiant effort, but are out-numbered by the Qiraji and out-maneuvered by their brilliant Twin Emperors, Vek'lor and Vek'nilash. * Valstann Staghelm, Fandral's son, is murdered by the Qiraji General Rajaxx. The Night Elves falter, and are pushed back to the deserts of Tanaris. * The Night Elves seek out the aid of the Bronze Dragonflight, which is initially refused. The Bronze Dragons were quick to offer their aid, however, after the brazen qiraji attacked the sacred Caverns of Time. * Anachronos, heir of Nozdormu, convinced members of the Red, Green and Blue Dragonflight to aid them. * Faced with the might of the Dragons and the Night Elves, the Qiraji were beaten back to the gates of their mighty city, Ahn'Qiraj. However, the Qiraji would not give in further. * The dragons discover a terrifying evil (supposedly C'Thun) while battling the flying Qiraji above Ahn'Qiraj. * The dragons and night elves opt to trap the Qiraji in their own city, erecting the mighty Scarab Wall that would contain the Qiraji for more than 10,000 years. However, the war would not be over until the gates are opened once again... The First Burning Legion Invasion - ~10,000 years before WC1 * See: War of the Ancients Trilogy * The continent of Kalimdor is shattered, and becomes three smaller continents: Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdoms, and Northrend. The 10,000 Years between the War of the Ancients and the First War Prelude to the Orc Invasion - ~50 years before WC1 Warcraft: Orcs & Humans *Under the sway of the Burning Legion, Medivh and Gul'dan open the Dark Portal, allowing the demon possessed Orcs to enter Azeroth. *The Orcs invade Azeroth, launching a clumsy attack against Stormwind that is repulsed after heavy losses. *A rift appears between Cho'gall and Kilrogg Deadeye over who is to blame for the disaster, and violence between the two clans erupts *In order to quell the violence, Gul'dan installs Blackhand the Destroyer as the first Warchief of the Horde. *Khadgar and Lord Lothar attack Karazhan and kill Medivh. The psychic shock of Medivh's death throws Gul'dan into a coma. *The Half-Orc Assassin Garona murders King Llane of Azeroth. *Durotan, chief of the Frost Wolf Clan returns from exile to warn Orgrim Doomhammer about *Gul'dan's teachery and secret control of the Horde. He and his wife are subsequently murdered by agents of the Shadow Council, and only his infant son, later named Thrall, survives. *The Orcs ransack and burn Goldshire, Northshire Abbey and finally Stormwind Keep itself. *In retaliation for Durotan's death, Doomhammer kills Blackhand and takes the title of Warchief for himself. *Gul'dan awakens from his coma to find the political situation drastically changed, he pledges his life to Doomhammer, all the while secretly planning the Warchief's destruction. *Lord Lothar manages to gather up the survivors of Azeroth and set sail for Lordaeron, in a long and harrowing jounrney known as the Exodus. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness - 6 Years after WC1 *The survivors of the Kingdom of Azeroth reach Lordaeron. *Lord Lothar of Azeroth and King Terenas of Lordaeron convince the other human kingdoms, as well as the Dwarves and High Elves to form the Alliance. *The Orcs invade Khaz Modan, conquering every Dwarf stronghold with the exception of Iron Forge itself. *The Horde enlists the aid of the Amani forest trolls led by Zul'jin, as well as the goblins of Undermine. *Tol Barad, an island city controlled by Stromguarde is destroyed by the Horde. All life on the island is decimated. Tol Barad would later be liberated by the fleet of Kul Tiras. *The Dragonmaw Clan captures the Dragonqueen Alexstrasza and forces her to produce young dragons to serve the Horde. *Horde raiders burn the cities of South Shore and Hillsbrad. *The Horde invades and burns much of Stromgaurde. *Under the direction of Gul'dan the Horde invades the High Elf homeland of Quel'Thalas. They burn much of the elves forests and Cho'gall captures, a number of elven runestones, warping their magic and converting them into a demonic focus known as the Altar of Storms. *On the eve of Doomhammer's planned assault on the capital city of Lordaeron, Gul'dan takes half of the Horde's standing forces and sails south in search of the Tomb of Sargeras. Doomhammer is forced to retreat and chase after the traitors, the Horde splits and falls into a bloody but short civil war. *During the reprieve the Alliance regroups. It is discovered that the Kingdom of Alterac has been aiding the Horde. Alterac's capital is destroyed. *Doomhammer succeeds in killing Cho'gall, and discovers that Gul'dan is already dead. With his forces in disarray, Doomhammer can not return on the offensive. *The Alliance pushes the Horde out of the Northlands and moves south, recapturing much of Khaz Modan and burning the Orc oil refineries at Grim Batol. *The Battle of Blackrock Spire takes place. Lord Lothar is killed but ultimately the Alliance triumphs, capturing Orgrim Doomhammer and routing the remnants of the Orcs. *The Orcs are pushed back through the Swamp of Sorrows, and into the Blasted Lands where the Dark Portal is destroyed, cutting the Orcs off from reinforcements from Draenor. The remaining Orcs surrender. Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal - 8 years after WC1 * The Alliance begins to build internment camps for the orcs south of Lordaeron. * Ner'zhul rallies the remaining orc clans on Draenor and sets out to create new portals to other unspoiled worlds. * Ner'zhul reopens the Dark Portal to retrieve artifacts from Azeroth to power his new portals. * Grom Hellscream and Kilrogg Deadeye lead the Horde into Azeroth, retrieve the artifacts, and return to Draenor. * King Teranas orders General Turalyon and Archmage Khadgar to lead an army to Draenor to stop the orcs once and for all. * Ner'zhul opens his portals to other worlds, but the tremendous energies of the portals begin to rip Draenor apart. * Hellscream and Deadeye rally the remaining orcs and escape through the Dark Portal back into Azeroth. * Turalyon and Khadgar decide to destroy the Dark Portal on Draenor, trapping them on the dying world but preventing any more orcs from entering Azeroth. * Ner'zhul and the Shadowmoon clan escape through one of the new portals. * Kil'jaeden captures Ner'zhul as he passes through the Twisting Nether, and rips him apart piece by piece (keeping his spirit alive) for betraying him. * Kil'jaeden traps Ner'zhul's spirit in a frozen cask, warping his spirit and greatly increasing his power, and becomes the Lich King. * Draenor explodes. 10 years after WC1 * The rogue wizard Kel'Thuzad founds The Scholomance, a school of Necromancy built in the crypts beneath the old fortress of Caer Darrow, and begins work on the Plague of Undeath that would soon consume much of the Eastern Continent. * Kel'Thuzad forms the Cult of the Damned. * The mage Rhonin, assisted by high elf ranger Vereesa and dragonmage Krasus, free the Dragonqueen Alexstrasza from the orc warlock who had imprisoned her for over 5 years. ** See book: Day of the Dragon. 18 years after WC1 * Doomhammer killed freeing his fellow orcs from human internment camps. * Thrall becomes the new Warchief of the Horde. ** See book: Lord of the Clans. 19 years after WC1 Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos - 21 years after WC1 * Under the guidance of a mysterious prophet, Thrall and the Horde set sail for Kalimdor. * Kel'Thuzad and the Cult of the Damned release the Plague of Undeath upon Lordaeron. * Prince Arthas, with the help of Lord Uther and Jaina Proudmore, begins his fight against the Undead. * Arthas kills Kel'Thuzad. * The Horde lands on the Broken Islands, encountering the Darkspear tribe of jungle trolls and saving them from an army of murlocs. The Trolls join the Horde out of gratitude. * Arthas betrays Uther and slaughters the people of Stratholme, believing them to be infected with the Plague. * Under the guidance of the same prophet, Jaina Proudmoore gathers as much of Lordaeron's populace as she can and sails to Kalimdor. * Arthas travels to Northrend in search of the cursed blade Frostmourne, encountering his old tutor Muradin Bronzebeard there. * Arthas takes up Frostmourne, which steals his soul and transforms him into a Death Knight under the Lich King's command. The process kills Muradin. * Arthas returns to Lordaeron and kills his father (King Terenas II) and destroys the city. * Under Arthas, the Scourge devastates the country-side of Lordaeron and kills Uther. * Repeated calls for aid to the Gnomes in their clockwork city of Gnomeregan go unanswered. Little does the rest of the Alliance know that the Gnomes are desperately trying to fight off an underground invasion from a barbaric race of beings called Troggs. Knowing that the rest of the Alliance is occupied with the Scourge, the Gnomes decide to face the Troggs alone. * The Scourge recovers the remains of Kel'Thuzad and travels to Quel'Thalas. Arthas battles with Ranger-General Sylvanas Windrunner in order to conquer Silvermoon and claim the Sunwell. * Arthas kills Sylvanas, raising her as an undead Banshee. The Scourge burns Silvermoon and claims the Sunwell, Arthas uses the Sunwell to raise Kel'Thuzad as a Lich, forever twisting and corrupting it in the process. * Kel'Thuzad and Arthas raid Dalaran and steal the book of Medivh, they use it to summon Archimonde who destroys Dalaran as a gesture of his power. Archimonde then turns the Scourge over to the Dreadlord Tichondrius and begins summoning the rest of the Burning Legion. * While the Legion devastates Lordaeron, Thrall lands on Kalimdor, encountering and saving a tribe of Tauren led by Cairne Bloodhoof. Out of gratitude Cairne tells Thrall of an oracle in the Stonetalon Mountains. * Thrall and Grom Hellscream fight through a group of humans. Horrified by Hellscream's bloodlust, he sends the Chieftan away to prepare a settlement in Ashenvale. * While cutting lumber the Warsong Clan is attacked by Night Elves, Grom gives into his rage and becomes re-enslaved to the demon Mannoroth. With Mannoroth's blood empowering him, Hellscream kills the demigod Cenarius. * Thrall and Jaina Proudmoore discover that the Oracle is none other than the prophet, who tells them to unite against the Burning Legion. * The Legion invades Kalimdor, forcing the Night Evles under Tyrande Whisperwind to awaken the Druids. Tyrande also releases Illidan from his prison. * Illidan goes to Felwood to stop the demonic corruption there. He destroys the Skull of Gul'dan, absorbing its power. He kills the Dreadlord Tichondrius, but is banished by his brother Malfurion for using demonic magic. The Battle of Mount Hyjal * The prophet reveals himself to be Medivh, returned from the dead. With his help, the Night Elves, Alliance and Horde unite to stop the Legion. * Malfurion Stormrage creates a trap for Archimonde, destroying the World Tree, and the Night Elves immortality in the process, but also destroying Archimonde himself. After thousands and thousands of deaths, the Legion's invasion is thwarted. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne - 21 years after WC1 * Jaina Proudmoore leads the remaining survivors of Lordaeron to an island near Dustwallow Marsh. There she establishes the city of Theramore, the only human outpost on the entire continent of Kalimdor. * The surviving High Elves from Quel'Thalas band together under Prince Kael'thas, renaming themselves Blood Elves in honor of their lost homeland. Prince Kael is the only surviving member of the Sunstrider dynasty, the bloodline that founded Quel'Thalas, and a powerful mage. As a race, however the Blood Elves are wracked with withdrawal pangs from the loss of their magical fountain, the Sunwell. * While wandering as an exile, Illidan Stormrage is approached by Kil'jaeden, who offers the Demon Hunter unparalled magical power if he will destroy the demon's wayward servant the Lich King. * Illidan makes contact with his ancient allies, the former high born who now exist as Naga. Together they flee to the Tomb of Sargeras to claim the Dark Titan's eye, all the while pursued by Illidan's former warden Maiev Shadowsong. * Maeiv finds Illidan too late to stop him from claiming the eye, she is forced to call to Ashenvale for aid. Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whisperwind sail out to join her, and they pursue Illidan to Lordaeron. * In Lordaeron they manage to stop Illidan from using the eye just before his ritual can be completed. Illidan reveals that his goal was to kill the Lich King and destroy the Scourge. The Stormrage brothers put aside their differences and save Tyrande from death at the hands of the Scourge. Illidan later flees to Outland with Maeiv hot on his tail. * After being abandoned and betrayed by the remnants of the Alliance, the Blood Elves make a pact with Illidan and the Naga, escaping to Outland and aiding Illidan first in defeating Maeiv Shadowsong and then in establishing the Demon Hunter as ruler of the remains of Draenor. Illidan intends to hide there after his failure, but Kil'jaeden quickly tracks him down. The demon gives Illidan one more chance to succeed. * Arthas returns to Lordaeron, demanding that the Dreadlords cede power of the Scourge back to him. However, he soon is called away to Northrend by the Lich King, who has been imperiled by Illidan's spell. He leaves Kel'Thuzad in charge of the region while he is gone. * The weakening of the Lich King allows hundreds of Undead to free themselves from his control. Banding together under Sylvanas Windrunner, they systematically hunt down the Dreadlords, killing all but Varimathras, whom Sylvanas makes her general. They establish themselves in the ruins of Lordaeron's capital city. * Arthas arrives at Northrend, outmaneuvering the Naga, the Blood Elves, and the remnants of Muradin's Dwarven expidition, he makes his way to Ice Crown Glaciar. There at the entrace he duels with Illidan. After a short, intense battle he leaves Illidan bleeding to death in the snow and enters. * Arthas smashes the Frozen Throne and dons the Lich King's armor, thereby fusing his soul and that the of Lich King together with the announcement, "NOW, WE ARE ONE." Currently Arthas/Ner'zhul still remains in Northrend. * The newly established Orc nation of Durotar is attacked by a Kul Tiras fleet led by Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore. The Horde, with the help of the Beastmaster Rexxar manage to beat back the initial assault, and evacuate the Darkspear Trolls who are in danger of being wiped out by the fleet. * Under Thrall's orders Rexxar musters a combined force of Trolls, Ogres, Tauren and Orcs and attacks Theramoore, where Admiral Proudmoore has set up his headquarters. After a fierce battle, Admiral Proudmoore is killed. Thrall leaves Jaina Proudmoore to greive over her father saying, "I hope we never have to return here again." Both sides know, however, that the fragile pact between The Horde and The Alliance is now over. Between 21 and 25 Years After * Cairne Bloodhoof establishes the first permanent Tauren city, on a series of high mesas. Calling the new city Thunder Bluff, he invites all the other Tauren tribes to join him there. Soon, the majority of Tauren flock to Thunder Bluff, bringing with them their most sacred totems. Thunder Bluff quickly becomes the spirital heart of Tauren culture. * The Gnomes, in a last ditch attempt to drive the Troggs from Gnomeregan, unleash a radioactive cloud which floods the city. Not only does this cloud not kill the Troggs, it ends up wiping out half of the Gnomish race, and rendering Gnomeregan uninhabitable. The ragged remnants of the Gnomish race are forced to flee to Iron Forge and take refuge with the Dwarves. * A rift in time sends the Human Archmage Rhonin, Dragonmage Krasus, and Orc Veteran Broxigar back 10,000 years to the start of the First Burning Legion Invasion. ** See: War of the Ancients Trilogy * The Forsaken secretly begin working on a new Plague of Undeath. * Malfurion Stormrage mysteriously disappears in the Emerald Dream, leaving Fendral Staghelm to take control of the Druids. * Rend Blackhand, son of slain former Warchief Blackhand, begins to build power to take control of the Horde. * Nefarion joins forces with Rend to create the Chromatic Dragonflight. * The Scourge begins work on their own flight of undead dragons. * Fendral Staghelm leads the Night Elf druids in creating a new World Tree on an island north of Kalimdor. This time however, nature and the dragons do not extend their blessing, realizing that this new world tree is a selfish attempt by the Night Elves to regain their immortality. Soon the magic of the new World Tree begins to fall out of balance. * The Forsaken join forces with the Horde in an effort to protect themselves from the enemies that surround them on all sides. * The Horde occupies the ruins of Tarren Mill, and Hammerfall, and begins constructing several forward bases throughout southern Azeroth and Ashenvale. * The Night Elves, still bitter over the death of Cenarius at the hands of an Orc, and enraged at the cotinued presence of Horde lumbermills in Ashenvale Forest, decide to join the Alliance. * Balnazzar posessed the body of the Paladin Saiden Dathrohan, and created the Scarlet Crusade. World of Warcraft - 25 years after WC1 * Despite a number of domestic crises, hostilities once again break out between the Horde and the Alliance. * A series of running skirmishes between the Warsong Clan and the Silverwing Sentinels begins in Ashenvale. * Conflict over control of the resource rich Arathi Basin erupts between the human League of Arathor and the Forsaken Defilers. Both sides begin petitioning their allies for reinforcements. * A long drawn out battle of attrition begins between the two sides as to who will control the strategic Alterac Mountains. See http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/story/ for further info. ''Return to Lore page. Category:Lore